See You On the Next Failure
by TheTrueOverlordBear
Summary: Two suffering time travelers meet in the tunnel of time. WARNING: Up ahead are major KagePro spoilers and major PMMM spoilers.


One failed to protect the girl who saved her.

The other failed to protect the friends that took care of her.

One was a jaded magical girl who only wanted to be with that one girl at all costs, and that gave her the power to turn back time over and over again.

The other was a shy medusa who wanted to live happily with her friends, and with the power that she inherited from her mother, she had the power to turn back time as well.

They failed countless times. The jaded magical girl remembered all of it, and it turned her into a cold person that couldn't care any less about anyone whose name wasn't Madoka Kaname. As for the shy medusa, every time she tried again, she all thought that it was just a dream, but the fact that all those horrid memories of her friends' deaths really happened was starting to get to her.

And now, by a twist of fate, their paths crossed as they were on their way to try and fix things again.

"…"

"…"

Homura Akemi only stared coldly at the surprised Mary Kozakura. As for Mary, she turned her face away out of fear.

"Who are you?" Homura asked.

"M-me?" Mary asked with surprise. "I…I'm Mary…"

Homura considered asking Mary if she was a magical girl like her, but she decided not to do that, as she didn't see any sign of her being a magical girl. Homura didn't want Mary to end up like her as well.

"I'm Homura, Mary-san," the magical girl answered with a little smile. Somehow, she felt like she shared something in common with Mary. "You can control time, too, Mary-san?"

"Huh? Umm…it seems so…Homura-san…" Mary shyly replied. "My mother received it from my grandmother, and then I got it when my mother…no…my mother and I…died…"

"…Hm…"

_"Such a strange person,"_Homura thought._"Maybe I shouldn't ask her about that right now. There's something else that interests me…"_

"If you're walking with me in this tunnel of time right now, then what happened that caused you to go back in time, Mary-san?"

"…Huh?"

At first, Homura thought that Mary didn't understand, but then she realized that Mary had heard her loud and clear.

"…*sniff*…"

Mary was crying silently as she stared at Homura, letting out sniffs as tears streamed out of her eyes.

"…Hmph. If you're going to cry, then I'll be going on ahead," Homura coldly said. She hated seeing Mary in that state. It painfully reminded her of her past self, that self that was shy, had poor eyesight, and a weak heart. As she stood, facing away from Mary, Homura gritted her teeth as she began frowning angrily at her past self.

"…Wait…Wait, Homura-san!"

"…"

Mary called out to Homura, who still stood, frozen with anger at her own self. Mary was crying, but she had a feeling that she wasn't alone in her suffering.

Homura didn't respond, though, but Mary noticed that the magical girl was shaking a bit. Mary then decided to take a look at Homura's face.

"…*sniff*…Tch…"

Homura was crying as well.

"What are you looking at?" Homura angrily asked as she turned her crying face away from Mary.

"Since you asked why I'm going back in time…" Mary said as she looked down, with tears still coming out of her eyes, "I wanted to ask you the same thing as well…"

"A girl saved me. That's all. That's the reason why I became this idiot that you're seeing right now."

"…Oh…" Mary replied with a bitter smile. _"I shouldn't let fear bring me down right now," _Mary thought to herself as she remembered a certain day. _"I should be like Seto…when we first met…I should be brave!"_

Mary wiped her tears off with the sleeve of her dress, and then she shouted:

"I want to live happily with my friends! That's why I'm turning back time! That's why I went back over and over! I don't want them to die! I want to forget all the horrid memories of their deaths, but…but…"

Tears started to come out of Mary's eyes again.

"…I…I can't anymore…It hurts…"

Mary landed on her knees as she cried again.

*slap*

Out of anger, Homura slapped Mary without a second thought.

"Will you stop being such a weakling?" Homura angrily shouted. "You've been through countless failures, and you're just going to cry like that? I hate that…You remind me of my weak past self! You want to save your friends, you say? Stand up and save them, then, even if it takes you so many times to do so! You can turn back time if you fail, but don't let yourself reach that point as much as you can!"

"But…but…I'm just a burden to them!" Mary answered angrily. "I'm just a clumsy girl, and I even have to ask a friend of mine to carry me almost all the time, too!"

"Tch…then…then…"

Homura wanted to slap Mary again, but she couldn't. She fell on her knees as well. She was seeing her weak self in Mary, that weak self that she hated so much.

And so, for a while, Homura cried along with Mary. She didn't want to shout anymore. She just wanted to let out all the sadness that she built up inside her.

When the two couldn't let out anymore tears, Homura, smiling bitterly stood up and reached a hand out to Mary. Mary, smiling bitterly as well, took Homura's hand and stood up.

"Let's go, Mary-san," Homura said.

"Mm," Mary replied with a nod. "But will we meet again, Homura-san?"

"I don't know. Maybe when we fail again."

"So…see you on the next failure, then, Homura-san?" Mary asked with a brighter smile.

"Heh. See you on the next failure, then, Mary-san," Homura replied with a smirk.

And so, with smiles on their faces, the two time travelers went to the end of the tunnel of time again, and they went back to their respective worlds.

*TIMELINE RESET*


End file.
